My students need individual book bags for reading, a graphing pocket chart, shelves for displaying big books, a table top easel, and a large teaching easel.
How well a classroom is organized can make or break even the best of teachers. These tools will help keep our classroom running smoothly so that I can provide the best learning environment and quality instruction possible!
I have the best job ever!
I get to spend the school day with approximately 20 energetic and fun first grade students. Our elementary school is an urban Title I school where the vast majority of students receive Free or Reduced Lunch. What we lack in resources, we make up for in fun! My class's favorite memories from first grade include reading with a partner, addition, subtraction, and sight word games, singing, freeze dance, science experiments, and a variety of different art projects. I think it is so cool that their favorite memories include so much learning! That is probably the greatest thing about first graders - - - They LOVE to LEARN! I get to tap into their natural desire to learn, and they in turn fuel my love of teaching.
My Project
We move around a lot in my classroom, rotating from whole group learning on the rug to independent and group learning centers. We need easels (a tabletop one for my small group teaching station and a large one for whole group instruction) for creating and displaying anchor charts to help us remember important ideas, vocabulary, and procedures. We also need a pocket graph chart to collect data and display information so that students can make sense of the world around them, and we can spend more time on the important aspect of analyzing the results.
During our literacy and learning stations, students have access to lots of books for reading independently and with partners. Big Books can be difficult to store because of their size, but specially created big book shelves make it easier for students to see and select the books they are interested in reading. Individual book bags make it easier for students to transport and read self selected leveled books during independent reading.
Picture students working together on the rug as we build a chart that explains the different types of sentences and ending punctuation.
We take turns making up sentences and graphing them by ending punctuation as we go. Next some students move into independent stations, reading from their individual leveled book bags or reading Big Books with a partner while others work on writing at the teaching station. A happy buzz fills the room. You can help gift the tools to make this scene happen!
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Mueller and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
